DESCRIPTION(Adapted from application): The study of apoptotic cell death reaches into nearly every field in biology, and it is not uncommon for specialized meetings to include sessions devoted to the process and role of apoptosis in a given system. Recent meetings on immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, nephrology, allergy, and others (to name a few) have had such sessions. Although such sessions disseminate information of relevance to those fields, they fall short of serving to unify the field of apoptosis itself (since, of course, this is not their goal). For this reason, researchers in the field of cell death and others with interests in this field gather at four key US meetings every two years. The Keystone Meeting on Apoptosis is one of these. This meeting focuses on the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis and its regulation in a variety of systems and tends to be the largest of the four (the others are the Gordon Conference on Cell Death, which focuses on cell death in the context of different biological processes; the Cold Spring Harbor Conference on Apoptosis, which has a focus on cancer.) All of these meetings serve important functions, and all are extremely well attended. As the largest meeting, the Keystone Symposium on Apoptosis has the additional responsibility to provide review for newcomers, while setting the course for key research issues over the next two years. The field of apoptosis is extremely active, with over 60,000 papers published (over 1,000 by Feb. 1 of this year) and keeping up with important developments is demanding (if not impossible). The Keystone Symposium is a major tool for progress in our field.